n  T 

40 


UC-NRLF 


SB    El    fll? 


Publication  C.  O.  50 


SOCIAL  CASE  WORKERS 

AND 

BETTER  INDUSTRIAL 
CONDITIONS 


BY 

SHELBY  M.  HARRISON 

DIRECTOR,  DEPARTMENT  OF  SURVEYS  AND  EXHIBITS 
RUSSELL  SAGE  FOUNDATION 


PAPER    READ    BEFORE    THE 

DIVISION    ON    THE    FAMILY    OF    THE 

NATIONAL    CONFERENCE    OF    SOCIAL    WORK, 

MAY,    1918 


CHARITY  ORGANIZATION  DEPARTMENT  OF  THE 

RUSSELL  SAGE  FOUNDATION 

130  £AST  TWENTY-SECOND  STREET 

NEW  YORK  CITY 

1918 

Price,  10  Cents 


SOCIAL  CASE  WORKERS 

AND 

BETTER  INDUSTRIAL 
CONDITIONS 


BY 

SHELBY  M.  HARRISON 

DIRECTOR,  DEPARTMENT  OF  SURVEYS  AND  EXHIBITS 
RUSSELL  SAGE  FOUNDATION 


PAPER    READ    BEFORE   THE 
DIVISION    ON    THE    FAMILY    OF    THE 
NATIONAL   CONFERENCE    OF    SOCIAL    WORK, 
MAY, 


CHARITY  ORGANIZATION  DEPARTMENT  OF  THE 

RUSSELL  SAGE  FOUNDATION 

130  EAST  TWENTY-SECOND  STREET 

NEW  YORK  CITY 

1918 


i:S0C*IAL  CASE  WORKERS  AND  BETTER 
''INDUSTRIAL  CONDITIONS 

OUTLINE  OF  TOPICS 

I.  The  Case  Worker's  Contribution  to  Industrial  Improve- 
ment through  the  Educational  Use  of  Single  Cases 

Employing  the  Case  Method  of  Teaching 

Case  Committees  as  Educational  Centers 
How  Information  Spreads 
To  Educate,  Cases  Must  Be  Well  Handled 
Thorough  Investigation  of  Industrial  Facts 
Adequate  Plan  of  Treatment 
Personal  Equipment  of  Case  Worker 
Appreciation  of  Relation  between  Labor  Condi- 
tions and  Social  Conditions 
Health  and  Income 
Health  and  Hours  of  Labor 
Income,  Morals,  and  Ethics 
Industrial  Reformer's  Help  Needed 
Faithfulness  to  Industrial  Facts 

Opportunity  in  Social-study  Classes 

In  Reporting  to  Contributors 

In  Reporting  to  Those  Referring  Families 

In  General  Reporting 

In  Newspaper  Interpretation  of  Constructive  Work 

In  Platform  Interpretation 

In    Securing    Cooperation    in    Treatment    among 
Workers  of  Other  Agencies 

In  the  Families  Helped 

II.  The  Case  Worker's  Contribution  to  Industrial  Improve- 
ment through  the  Educational  Use  of  Massed  Cases 
Discovering  and  Following  Up  Clues 
Making  Case  Data  Accessible  to  Inquirers 
Making    Studies    of    Their    Data  by  Case  Work 
Agencies 


Copyright,  1918,  by  the  National  Conference  of  Social  Work 


SOCIAL  CASE  WORKERS  AND  BETTER 
INDUSTRIAL  CONDITIONS 

What  I  have  to  say  rests  on  the  premise  that  the  soundest 
kind  of  reform,  whether  industrial  or  any  other,  is  that  based  upon 
informed  public  opinion;  that  in  a  democracy,  at  least,  where 
the  people  determine  public  policy  and  action,  if  advances  are 
to  be  at  all  permanent,  they  must  be  grounded  in  popular  under- 
standing of  their  value. 

In  an  earlier  draft  of  this  paper  I  included  a  few  paragraphs 
in  support  of  that  premise,  but,  because  of  the  shortness  of  the 
time,  I  omit  them  now,  for  I  think  we  may  safely  assume  agree- 
ment on  this  principle.  If  any  need  further  argument,  I  invite 
you  to  read  the  papers  of  the  Division  on  the  Promotion  of  Social 
Programs  presented  at  the  last  two  sessions  of  the  National 
Conference  of  Social  Work,  especially  the  convincing  address  by 
Mr.  Allen  T.  Burns  at  the  Indianapolis  meetkig. 

If,  then,  we  can  assume  this  premise,  it  follows  that  one,  if 
not  the  chief  or  only,  means  to  sound  reform  is  through  the  edu- 
cation of  the  public;  and  it  follows  further  that  one,  at  least, 
of  the  best  ways  in  which  the  case  worker  can  make  his  knowl- 
edge contribute  to  industrial  reform  is  through  its  educational 
use.1  In  general,  two  broad  avenues  of  opportunity  for  teaching 
are  open  to  him.  The  first  is  teaching  through  the  use  of  indi- 
vidual cases2;  and  the  second,  teaching  through  the  use  of 
massed  cases  or  massed  facts.  Both  seem  to  me  to  have  great 
value,  and  to  give  the  case  worker  chances  to  make  rare  contri- 
butions to  social  reform. 

1  The  original  and  more  explicit  title  assigned  for  this  paper  was:  How  Shall 
Case  Workers  Contribute  Their  Knowledge  to  Industrial  Reform? 

2  The  term  "case"  used  throughout  this  paper  refers  to  the  designation 
given,  not  to  the  family  living  under  abnormal  conditions,  but  to  the  complex 
circumstances  which  bear  in  upon  it  and  cause  its  abnormal  life.     The  case  is 
the  problem;  it  does  not  refer  to  the  family. 

3 


LQ867 


EDUCATIONAL  USE  OF  INDIVIDUAL  CASES 
First,  then,  as  to  the  opportunities  to  promote  industrial 
•ref(jrcn:  through  the  educational  use  of  individual  cases.  In  every 
mocleVn  cKarity  organization  society,  and  in  many  other  organiza- 
•,t{(5ils  doing  $ase  work,  is  a  case  committee.  It  is  sometimes 
"calfecf'a  ca'se  conference;  sometimes,  a  decisions  committee; 
sometimes,  a  consultation  committee.  Whatever  its  name,  it  is 
composed  of  a  group  of  public  spirited  citizens  selected  because 
of  their  varied  experience,  points  of  view,  knowledge,  and  broad 
sympathies  which  can  be  brought  to  bear  upon  individuals  and 
families  who  are  living  abnormally.  In  this  committee,  I  be- 
lieve, the  case  worker  has  his  first  rare  opportunity  to  arouse 
popular  interest  for  industrial  reform,  both  because  of  the  method 
he  can  employ  and  because,  even  among  such  a  group  of  citizens 
having  lively  human  sympathies,  there  is  far  too  little  apprecia- 
tion of  the  relation  often  existing  between  broken  families  and 
the  circumstances  under  which  workers  labor. 

EMPLOYING  THE  CASE  METHOD  OF  TEACHING 
In  this  connection  let  me  recall  the  principle  underlying  the 
so-called  "case  method"  of  teaching  introduced  into  the  Harvard 
Law  School  by  Christopher  C.  Langdell  in  1871,  which  not  only 
reformed  the  method  of  teaching  law  there,  but  has  been  adopted 
in  practically  all  the  leading  law  schools  of  the  United  States. 
In  Professor  Langdell's  own  description  of  his  method  he  states 
that  a  year  and  a  half  of  teaching,  "not  theoretically  but  prac- 
tically," a  "business"  which  he  entered  upon  "entirely  without 
experience,"  confirmed  his  earlier  opinion  as  a  student  and  his 
later  conviction  when  he  first  became  a  teacher  "that  law  could 
only  be  taught  or  learned  effectively  by  means  of  cases  in  some 
form."  The  science  of  law,  he  argued,  "consists  of  certain  prin- 
ciples or  doctrines"  and  the  ability  to  apply  them  with  success 
to  "the  tangled  skein  of  human  affairs"  is  what  makes  "a  true 
lawyer";  and  "hence  to  acquire  that  mastery  should  be  the 
business  of  every  earnest  student  of  law."  He  held  that  "the 
number  of  fundamental  legal  doctrines  is  much  less  than  is  com- 
monly supposed,"  and  he  proceeded  "to  select,  classify,  and  ar- 
range all  the  cases  [he  was  then  speaking  of  the  law  of  contracts] 
which  had  contributed  in  any  important  degree  to  the  growth, 
development,  or  establishment,  of  any  of  its  essential  doctrines." 

4 


These  he  believed  would  be  of  service  to  all  who  desired  to  study 
law  systematically.1 

In  a  report  on  this  method  of  teaching  law,  made  to  the  Car- 
negie Foundation  for  the  Advancement  of  Teaching,  Professor 
Dr.  Josef  Redlich,  of  the  University  of  Vienna,  explains,  further, 
that  it  was  apparently  Professor  Langdell's  purpose  that  "the 
intellectual  labor  of  disentangling  the  facts  and  the  leading  train 
of  thought  from  the  report  of  each  decided  case  is  to  be  performed 

1  For  those  who  are  interested  in  the  details  of  this  method,  the  following 
quotations  from  the  description  by  Professor  Langdell  in  his  Cases  on  the 
Law  of  Contracts  are  reproduced: 

"  I  cannot  better  explain  the  design  of  this  volume  than  by  stating  the  cir- 
cumstances which  led  me  to  undertake  its  preparation. 

"I  entered  upon  the  duties  of  my  present  position  a  year  and  a  half  ago 
with  a  settled  conviction  that  law  could  only  be  taught  or  learned  effectively 
by  means  of  cases  in  some  form.  I  had  entertained  such  an  opinion  ever 
since  I  knew  anything  of  the  nature  of  law  or  of  legal  study;  but  it  was  chiefly 
through  my  experience  as  a  learner  that  it  was  first  formed,  as  well  as  subse- 
quently strengthened  and  confirmed.  Of  teaching  indeed,  as  a  business,  I 
was  entirely  without  experience;  nor  had  I  given  much  consideration  to  that 
subject,  except  so  far  as  proper  methods  of  teaching  are  involved  in  proper 
methods  of  study. 

"  Now,  however,  I  was  called  upon  to  consider  directly  the  subject  of  teach- 
ing, not  theoretically  but  practically,  in  connection  with  a  large  school  with  its 
more  or  less  complicated  organization,  its  daily  routine,  and  daily  duties.  I 
was  expected  to  take  a  large  class  of  pupils,  meet  them  regularly  from  day  to 
day,  and  give  them  systematic  instruction.  .  .  .  How  could  this  object 
be  accomplished?  Only  one  mode  occurred  to  me  which  seemed  to  hold  out 
any  reasonable  prospect  of  success;  and  that  was,  to  make  a  series  of  cases, 
carefully  selected  from  the  books  of  reports,  the  subject  alike  of  study  and  in- 
struction. .  .  .  Law,  considered  as  a  science,  consists  of  certain  principles 
or  doctrines.  To  have  such  a  mastery  of  these  as  to  be  able  to  apply  them  with 
constant  facility  and  certainty  to  the  ever-tangled  skein  of  human  affairs,  is  what 
constitutes  a  true  lawyer;  and  hence  to  acquire  that  mastery  should  be  the  business 
of  every  earnest  student  of  law.  Each  of  these  doctrines  has  arrived  at  its  present 
state  by  slow  degrees  .  .  .  and  much  the  shortest  and  best,  if  not  the 
only  way  of  mastering  the  doctrine  effectually  is  by  studying  the  cases  in  which 
it  is  embodied.  But  the  cases  which  are  useful  and  necessary  for  this  purpose 
at  the  present  day  bear  an  exceedingly  small  proportion  to  all  that  have  been 
reported.  .  .  .  Moreover,  the  number  of  fundamental  legal  doctrines  is 
much  less  than  is  commonly  supposed;  the  many  different  guises  in  which  the 
same  doctrine  is  constantly  making  its  appearance,  and  the  great  extent  to  which 
legal  treatises  are  a  repetition  of  each  other,  being  the  cause  of  much  misappre- 
hension. If  these  doctrines  could  be  so  classified  and  arranged  that  each  should 
be  found  in  its  proper  place,  and  nowhere  else,  they  would  cease  to  be  formid- 
able from  their  number.  It  seemed  to  me,  therefore,  to  be  possible  to  take 
such  a  branch  of  the  law  as  Contracts,  for  example,  and,  without  exceeding 
comparatively  moderate  limits,  to  select,  classify,  and  arrange  all  the  cases 
which  had  contributed  in  any  important  degree  to  the  growth,  development, 
or  establishment  of  any  of  its  essential  doctrines,  and  that  such  a  work  could 
not  fail  to  be  of  material  service  to  all  who  desire  to  study  that  branch  of  law 
systematically  and  in  its  original  sources." 

Langdell,  Christopher  C.:  The  Common  Law  and  the  Case  Method  in 
American  Law  Schools,  pp.  10,  n.  Carnegie  Foundation  for  the  Advance- 
ment of  Teaching,  bulletin  number  eight,  1914. 


by  the  students,  quite  independently,  even  though  carried  on  to 
a  certain  extent  under  the  guidance  of  the  teacher."  The  stu- 
dent's experience  in  such  study  would  fit  him  best  to  deal  with 
other  cases  as  they  come  along,  for  law  is  not  to  be  regarded  as 
"firmly  established  and  only  to  be  grasped,  understood,  and 
memorized  by  the  pupils  as  it  is  systematically  laid  before  them," 
but,  instead,  recognizing  everything  as  being  "in  a  state  of  flux," 
law  is  a  growing  thing — an  expression  of  the  ever  changing  social 
order.  Teacher  and  learner  were  to  approach  it  in  the  same  way, 
and  to  learn  it  by  discovery.1 

So  much  for  the  case  method  of  teaching  in  the  law  school. 
About  1898  Dr.  Walter  Cannon  suggested  that  case  teaching  be 
introduced  into  the  medical  classroom.  As  is  well  known  to  this 
group  of  the  National  Conference,  Dr.  Richard  C.  Cabot  car- 
ried out  this  suggestion  at  the  Harvard  Medical  School;  and  its 
adoption  in  the  teaching  of  medicine  in  other  colleges  has  since 
followed. 

In  1910  the  case  system  of  preparing  for  social  work  was  intro- 
duced into  one  course  at  least  of  the  New  York  School  of  Philan- 
thropy; and  its  use  still  continues  there.  I  have  no  doubt  that 
the  other  schools  of  philanthropy  and  social  work  have  been  using 

1  The  fuller  statement  of  Professor  Redlich  is  as  follows: 
"In  the  compilation  of  these  case-books  [Professor  Langdell's]  from  the 
beginning,  the  text  has  regularly  contained  no  table  of  contents  of  the  separate 
cases,  such  as  is  contained  in  the  Law  Reports,  nor  any  brief  statement  of  the 
rules  of  law  involved,  such  as  is  regularly  inserted  by  the  official  reporter.  In 
this  Langdell  has  recognized  an  extremely  important  pedagogical  principle; 
a  principle  peculiar  to  the  case  method,  and  one  to  which  all  later  pupils  and 
followers  of  Langdell's  have  adhered.  The  intellectual  labor,  namely,  of  dis- 
entangling the  facts  and  the  leading  train  of  thought  from  the  report  of  each 
decided  case  is  to  be  performed  by  the  students,  quite  independently,  even  al- 
though carried  on  to  a  certain  extent  under  the  guidance  of  the  teacher.  .  . 
.  .  Under  Langdell's  method  these  rules  are  derived,  step  by  step,  by  the 
students  themselves  by  a  purely  analytical  process  out  of  the  original  material 
of  the  common  law,  out  of  the  cases;  a  process  which  forbids  the  a  priori  accep- 
tance of  any  doctrine  or  system  either  by  the  teacher  or  by  the  hearer.  In  the 
former  method  all  law  seems  firmly  established  and  is  only  to  be  grasped, 
understood,  and  memorized  by  the  pupils  as  it  is  systematically  laid  before 
them.  In  the  latter,  on  the  other  hand,  everything  is  regarded  as  in  a  state  of 
flux;  on  principle,  so  to  speak,  everything  is  again  to  be  brought  into  question. 
Or,  in  other  words,  in  the  method  of  legal  instruction  developed  by  Langdell 
law  is  conceived  as  the  expression  of  social  order  in  judicial  form,  which  begins 
its  separate  existence  all  over  again  in  every  single  case.  Teacher  and  pupil 
approach  it  in  the  same  way,  the  learner  discovering  it,  under  the  guidance  of 
the  teacher,  as  a  new  and  original  joint  creation." 

Redlich,  Josef:  The  Common  Law  and  the  Case  Method  in  American  Law 
Schools,  pp.  12,  13.  Carnegie  Foundation  for  the  Advancement  of  Teaching, 
bulletin  number  eight,  1914. 


it  also.    In  an  article  briefly  touching  upon  this  use  of  the  method, 
Mr.  Porter  R.  Lee  says: 

"Training  for  social  work  has  profited  by  the  experience  of  law  schools  and 
medical  schools  and  has  begun  to  adopt  the  case  system.  .  .  .  The  use 
of  family  histories  to  illustrate  lectures  on  principles  we  are  all  familiar  with. 
The  case  system  of  instruction,  however,  is  not  the  use  of  family  histories  as 
illustrations  in  abstract  presentations  of  principle.  It  is  bringing  to  class  the 
precise  situations  which  a  worker  faces  in  the  treatment  of  families.  It  puts 
upon  the  members  of  the  class  the  responsibility  for  deciding  upon  each  step 
in  the  process  from  the  first  visit  after  the  first  interview  to  the  final  entry  on 
the  record  which  closes  it — a  success  or  a  failure." 

Not  long  ago  I  picked  up  the  monthly  journal  of  a  Western 
state  normal  school,  and  was  interested  to  find  an  article  upon 
the  problem  method  of  teaching  geography,  in  which  were  these 
suggestions : 

"The  first  thing  to  do  after  the  problem  is  stated  is  to  collect  facts  relative 
to  it.  ...  When  the  facts  have  been  collected  the  teacher  should  avoid 
asking  fact  questions.  .  .  .  Thought  questions  are  better  ones,  where  the 
children  will  have  to  consider  many  facts  in  order  to  answer  them.  This 
trains  in  the  judging  of  values  in  organization." 

CASE  COMMITTEES  AS  EDUCATIONAL  CENTERS 
Now  I  maintain  that  in  all  essentials  as  to  methods  employed 
everything  that  goes  on  in  the  university  law  class,  in  the  class 
in  medicine,  in  the  social  workers'  training  class,  can  be  or  is  a 
part  of  the  regular  routine  of  the  average  case  committee.1  The 
committee,  indeed,  has  the  real  thing.  It  has  before  it  actual 
cases  to  be  dealt  with,  in  the  handling  of  which  very  vital  in- 
terests of  living  people  are  concerned — the  kind  of  cases  which 
all  of  these  schools  in  their  own  particular  lines  are  trying  to 
reproduce  as  realistically  as  possible.  If  this  method,  as  would 
seem  by  its  wide  adoption,  has  the  stamp  of  approval  as  the 
best,  or  one  of  the  best,  methods  toward  educational  discovery 
and  understanding  of  the  broad  principles  which  underlie  law, 
medicine,  social  work,  and  other  sciences,  should  it  not  be  seized 
upon  by  the  case  worker  to  develop  the  fundamental  principles 
of  industrial  reform,  when  he  has  so  favorable  an  opportunity  as 
that  afforded  by  the  case  committee?  Before  him  lies  the  chance 

1 1  realize  that  the  professional  case  worker  does  not  assume  the  attitude  of 
teacher  or  leader  toward  his  committee;  he  prefers  to  be  a  fellow- worker. 
That  however  was  precisely  the  attitude,  as  I  understand  it,  of  Professor  Lang- 
dell  toward  his  class;  they  were  all  fellow-learners. 

7 


to  instill  sound  industrial  principles  into  the  minds  and  make 
them  a  part  of  the  experience  of  a  group  of  intelligent  and  often 
influential  people  through  whom  these  principles  may  quickly 
radiate  to  still  larger  groups. 

How  INFORMATION  SPREADS 

It  may  be  answered  that  this  is  too  slow  a  process;  that,  even 
assuming  that  the  whole  case  committee  were  soon  convinced, 
at  most  it  would  mean  only  ten  or  a  dozen  people.  I  do  not 
agree  that  it  would  touch  so  few.  It  would  rarely  happen  that 
persons  sitting  weekly,  fortnightly,  or  even  monthly  where  such 
telling  instruction  (though  they  may  not  know  they  are  being 
instructed)  is  being  given  will  be  so  little  impressed  by  the  vital 
principles  taught  as  never  to  mention  them  to  others — not  even 
to  members  of  their  own  households.  In  my  own  limited  knowl- 
edge of  such  committees  I  have  found  that  when  people  feel 
they  are  really  getting  down  to  bed  rock  in  dealing  with  cases 
they  become  very  enthusiastic  indeed,  and  that  they  talk  a 
great  deal. 

Partly  as  a  matter  of  amusement,  on  the  train  coming  here 
I  tried  to  calculate  the  number  of  people  that  would  be  reached 
in  a  year  if  a  single  case  committeeman  were  to  tell  of  his  com- 
mittee experiences  to  just  one  person  each  month,  and  if  each 
of  the  persons  he  told  them  to  should  also  pass  the  word  along 
to  just  one  other  person  in  the  course  of  a  month,  and  so  on  for 
a  year.  The  total  number  of  persons  thus  informed  in  a  year  is 
so  large  that  I  suspect  a  flaw  somewhere  in  my  arithmetic. 
According  to  my  figuring  in  12  months  the  number  would  be 
4,096!  And  this  through  only  one  member  of  the  committee! 
I  suppose  the  real  flaw  is  in  the  assumption  that  the  persons 
spoken  to  would  pass  the  word  on  even  monthly  to  many  others. 
Of  course  this  would  depend  somewhat  upon  the  amount  of  in- 
terest that  the  message  would  have  for  them.  If  Mr.  A.,  who 
has  not  been  getting  a  living  wage,  is  put  into  a  new  job  in 
which  he  can  support  his  family,  or,  if  the  old  employer  is  made 
to  see  that  Mr.  A.  should  be  paid  more,  the  committee  who 
effected  this  will  take  some  pride  in  the  accomplishment;  and 
the  news,  I  dare  say,  will  travel  rapidly  enough.  Or  if  Colonel 
B.,  a  cotton-mill  owner  and  member  of  the  case  committee,  be- 
comes so  convinced  of  the  evils  of  child  labor  as  to  turn  advocate 

8 


of  a  law  prohibiting  the  employment  of  children  (a  not  unknown 
or  unprecedented  occurrence),  I  dare  say  the  report  will  reach 
4,000  people  in  much  less  than  a  year;  and  will  at  the  same  time 
make  for  expressions  of  similar  sentiment  from  quarters  hereto- 
fore silent. 

But  this  calculation  aside,  it  would  seem  reasonable  that  where 
committees  are  doing  worthwhile  work  at  all,  each  committee 
member  would  mention  it  to  a  single  other  person  on  the  aver- 
age of  once  a  month.  Then,  since  committees  will  average  12 
to  20  members,  the  number  of  persons  reached  by  a  single  com- 
mittee in  a  year  would  run  well  above  150 — a  not  inconsiderable 
nucleus  for  any  kind  of  reform.  And,  of  course,  in  many  cities 
there  are  more  than  one  such  committees. 

Indeed,  a  speaker  at  the  Baltimore  Conference  pointed  out 
that  such  contacts  as  these,  gained  through  dealing  with  living 
cases  themselves,  give  "a  certain  distinctive  point  of  view,  and 
the  people  who  have  shared  such  contacts  tend  to  make  that  point 
of  view  known  and  felt  in  those  early  stages  in  which  a  new  social 
reform  has  been  conceived  but  is  not  yet  born.  Sometimes  our 
share  is  a  very  small  one,  and  all  the  prenatal  care  comes  from 
some  other  quarter,  but  often  it  is  a  very  important  factor,  espe- 
cially in  its  influence  upon  those  citizens  still  to  be  converted, 
whose  minds  move  habitually  and  with  caution  from  the  concrete 
to  the  general." 

Mr.  A.  J.  McKelway  has  testified  to  the  great  value  of  just 
such  help  from  case  workers  in  the  South  in  his  fight  in  times 
past  for  child  labor  reform. 

The  importance  of  daily  conversations,  of  just  plain  talk 
around  dinner  tables,  on  street  cars,  at  amusement  places,  over 
back  fences,  if  you  please,  at  loafing  places,  in  social  calls,  is 
not  so  fully  appreciated  by  the  social  worker  as  by  the  politician. 

It  is  true,  of  course,  that  the  case  worker  is  dealing  with  cases 
first  of  all  to  help  the  folks  concerned  and  not  as  teaching  mate- 
rial. He  or  she,  therefore,  cannot  pick  them  first  and  only  to 
illustrate  the  whole  field  of  industry,  although  some  selection 
already  is  made  of  those  going  to  district  committees.  Cases 
must  be  taken  for  the  most  part  as  they  come.  On  the  other 
hand,  it  is  also  true  in  dealing  with  industrial  questions,  as  Pro- 
fessor Langdell  pointed  out  in  regard  to  law,  that  the  number  of 
basic  principles  after  all  is  relatively  small.  A  very  large  pro- 

9 


portion  of  them  would  come  up  for  consideration  during  the 
period  of  service  of  most  committee  workers. 

To  EDUCATE,  CASES  MUST  BE  WELL  HANDLED 
But  in  order  that  the  cases  that  come  before  case  committees 
should  develop  fundamental  industrial  principles,  they  must  be 
handled  in  ways  that  call  for  the  application  of  broad  fundamental 
principles,  handled  in  ways  that  take  into  account  the  largest 
possible  industrial  considerations  for  all  concerned.  This,  of 
course,  should  be  done  anyway.  The  restoration  of  a  sorely  beset 
family  to  normal  living  is  clearly  the  first  duty  of  the  social 
agency  in  touch  with  it.  But  adequate  care  of  the  disabled  per- 
son or  family  and  the  education  of  the  committee  can  go  hand 
in  hand.  The  requirements  for  both  are  the  same. 

For  example,  I  was  recently  told  of  the  case  of  a  bricklayer 
who  had  come  to  one  of  the  charitable  societies  in  New  York 
for  aid.  He  was  a  foreigner,  and  at  the  time  was  not  working  at 
his  trade,  but  was  employed  as  a  porter  in  one  of  the  large  down- 
town buildings.  He  had  a  large  family,  and,  since  his  pay  was 
only  $12  a  week,  the  children  were  not  getting  enough  to  eat. 
The  question  before  the  committee  was  what  to  do.  Four  alter- 
natives emerged  from  the  discussion:  first,  the  society  could 
supplement  the  man's  wages  by  a  regular  weekly  allowance  to 
the  family  and  let  him  continue  at  work  where  he  was;  second, 
the  society  might  try  to  get  his  employer  to  pay  him  more  wages 
and  let  him  still  stay  where  he  was;  third,  it  might  try  to  get 
him  back  into  his  trade  of  bricklaying  where  he  could  earn  a 
larger  wage,  the  society  underwriting  the  family's  needs  until 
he  should  become  re-established ;  fourth,  it  might  find  him  better 
paying  work  outside  his  trade. 

It  will  be  seen  that  any  one  of  the  other  courses  would  be  better 
than  the  first,  the  straight  charitable  supplementing  of  his  wages. 
To  quote  the  words  of  a  leading  case  worker,  "the  old  attitude 
toward  relief  in  aid  of  wages  that  regarded  it  as  an  abominable 
interference  with  the  interests  of  the  independent  laborer  and  a 
probable  handicap  to  the  future  of  the  recipient,  is  still  justified 
whenever  relief  is  the  only  or  the  main  item  in  our  plan  of  treat- 
ment." Thus,  instead  of  taking  the  simple  and  easy  course  in- 
volved in  supplementing  the  man's  wages,  the  only  course  that 
some  of  the  committee  would  have  thought  of,  it  was  far  more 

10 


serviceable  to  the  family,  and  impressed  an  important  principle 
upon  that  part  of  the  committee,  when  the  rule  was  followed 
which  declared  in  effect  that  "industrial  conditions  and  personal 
capacities  are  far  from  being  as  inelastic"  as  most  of  us  suppose. 

The  careful  consideration  of  this  case  brought  out  other  les- 
sons also.  It  showed  that  social  case  workers  must  be  interested 
in  the  general  mobility  of  labor;  in  getting  workers  into  jobs 
where  they  can  do  their  best,  into  places  where  wages  for  them 
are  highest  relatively  or  the  cost  of  living  lowest.  The  case  worker 
must  think  of  cases  in  terms  of  the  whole  state  or  the  whole 
country  and  consequently  must  be  interested  in  the  many  agen- 
cies established  for  the  efficient  exchange  of  labor.  There  may 
have  been  still  other  lessons,  but  this  case  will  illustrate  some 
of  the  reasons  for  urging  that  the  treatment  must  be  on  a  broad 
scale  and  for  believing  that  in  so  treating  them  fundamental  in- 
dustrial principles  will  be  taught. 

Such  treatment  of  cases,  however,  demands  certain  pre- 
requisites, among  them  the  following: 

THOROUGH  INVESTIGATION  OF  INDUSTRIAL  FACTS 
First,  thorough  investigation  of  the  industrial  facts  is  imperative. 
A  case  worker  who  has  had  the  opportunity  to  read  case  records 
made  up  in  many  parts  of  the  country  told  me  that  he  was  con- 
stantly struck  by  the  inadequacy  of  the  investigations  into  the 
industrial  factors  involved  in  families  which  had  become  de- 
pendent. Case  workers  appreciate  the  importance  of  learning 
the  essential  facts  as  to  sickness  and  disease  when  these  are 
factors  in  dependency;  but  not  so  when  the  disability  has  its 
roots  in  industrial  conditions.  To  cite  one  of  many  illustrations 
of  this  neglect,  the  case  record  often  is  not  sufficiently  explicit 
as  to  the  man's  or  woman's  occupation;  the  investigator  too 
often  fails  to  get  at  what  is  involved  in  the  occupation.  It  is 
not  enough  to  class  a  plumber's  helper  roughly  as  a  plumber; 
for  there  is  too  great  difference  as  to  wages,  nature  of  work  done, 
etc.,  for  such  a  classification  to  mean  anything.  Nor  is  it  suf- 
ficient to  put  a  painter  of  carriages  in  a  carriage  factory  as  a 
carriage  maker.  At  least  two  facts,  as  Miss  Van  Kleeck  in  a 
paper  discussing  this  subject  has  already  suggested,  are  needed 
regarding  occupation.  The  kind  of  industry  should  be  ascer- 
tained, and  the  worker's  precise  position  in  it,  including  the 

11 


nature   of   the   materials   handled   and    the   health  hazard   in- 
volved. 

Again,  data  as  to  wages  are  often  inadequate.  Workmen's 
earnings  must  be  measured  with  at  least  two  things  in  mind: 
not  alone  wage  rates,  but  the  regularity  of  employment.  Knowl- 
edge as  to  annual  earnings  or  as  to  the  irregularity  of  work  will 
give  a  more  accurate  index  of  the  family's  problem  than  the 
daily,  weekly,  or  monthly  rate  could  possibly  do.  Similarly  the 
number  of  hours  worked  weekly  and  the  amount  of  overtime  work 
are  more  essential  than  the  nominal  schedule  of  hours  per  day. 

Again,  a  man's  industrial  relations  are  important.  A  good 
illustration  of  this  came  to  my  knowledge  recently.  It  was  the 
case  of  a  family  which  for  some  time  had  been  going  down  hill. 
The  man  was  a  machinist  and  when  he  came  to  the  society's 
notice  was  a  strike-breaker,  having  turned  against  his  fellow- 
workers.  The  case  workers  to  whom  he  was  referred  decided 
that  for  his  soul's  salvation  he  should  be  reinstated  in  his  union. 
They  found  out  how  it  could  be  done;  that  it  would  cost  some 
$50.  They  raised  the  $50  and  finally  got  him  back.  But  in  the 
course  of  six  months  everything  was  as  bad  as  ever.  He  main- 
tained that  the  union  had  discriminated  against  him  and  that 
he  was  unfairly  treated.  About  that  time  two  brothers  of  the 
machinist  were  found  and  they  told  his  life  story,  which  made 
it  clear  that  there  were  physical  and  mental  factors  that  needed 
to  be  taken  into  account. 

While  in  this  instance  the  failure  in  the  information  had  to  do 
with  mental  and  physical  factors,  it  must  be  obvious  that  no 
thorough  treatment  of  the  case  would  have  been  possible  had 
the  mental  and  physical  factors  been  known  but  the  industrial 
ones  entirely  neglected. 

Very  often  as  much  is  at  stake  in  getting  the  facts  upon  which 
to  plan  a  family's  rehabilitation  as  in  the  preparation  for  a 
court-of-law  case;  yet  when  these  facts  have  to  do  with  the 
wage  earner's  industrial  troubles  the  case  worker  is  not  nearly 
so  thorough  as  even  the  inexperienced  young  lawyer.  The 
analogies  have  enough  in  common  to  argue  for  social  workers' 
giving  more  attention  to  the  family  circumstances  that  may  be 
due  to  wrong  labor  conditions — for  their  carrying  over  into  the 
field  of  family  rehabilitation  something  of  the  technique  of  the 
professions  of  medicine  and  law. 

12 


ADEQUATE  PLAN  OF  TREATMENT 

This  leads  to  a  second  prerequisite  of  such  adequate  handling 
of  industrial  cases  as  shall  make  them  useful  as  educational 
material  and  in  addition  a  contribution  toward  industrial  re- 
form; namely,  more  adequate  treatment  of  industrial  cases.  The 
first  step  in  handling  cases,  as  I  understand  it,  is  investigation 
and  diagnosis;  the  second,  treatment — decision  as  to  a  plan  of 
treatment  and  the  carrying  of  it  out.  The  decision  as  to  plan 
is  made  by  the  case  committee.  Since  many  cases  involve  health 
and  legal  questions,  the  committee  usually  includes  at  least  one 
doctor  and  a  lawyer.  Other  types  of  training  or  experience  are 
represented;  but  I  wonder  how  often  the  committee  includes  a 
person  who  is  a  specialist  in  labor  questions.  I  do  not  mean  a 
partisan  of  either  side,  but  someone  who  understands  the  broad 
implications  of  the  questions  coming  up  and  who  can  bring 
informed  and  impersonal  judgment  to  bear  on  the  plans  to  be 
worked  out.  Such  persons,  of  course,  are  rare;  but  I  fancy  not 
quite  so  rare  as  we  may  think.  When  looked  for,  they  are  often 
discovered  in  very  unexpected  places.  But  if  none  such  is  avail- 
able, it  would  seem  only  advisable  that  along  with  the  employer's 
point  of  view  usually  found  represented  on  the  committee  there 
should  be  someone  who  sees  things  from  the  point  of  view  of 
the  worker  in  the  ranks,  even  if  he  be  a  partisan. 

PERSONAL  EQUIPMENT  OF  THE  CASE  WORKER 
Indeed,  I  am  inclined  to  think  something  more  than  either  of 
these  things  suggested  is  needed.  The  professional  case  worker 
himself  or  herself  needs  to  possess  considerable  knowledge  of 
industrial  issues.  I  realize,  of  course,  that  professional  case  work- 
ers cannot  be  specialists  in  physiology  and  hygiene,  in  psycho- 
analysis, law,  industry,  and  every  other  branch  of  human  knowl- 
edge; but  it  seems  to  me  that  they  should  nevertheless  have  a 
certain  introductory  acquaintance,  at  least,  with  all  of  these 
fields  in  order  to  make  their  work  succeed  at  all.  And  I  wonder 
whether  industry  is  not  one  of  the  fields  that  needs  a  good  deal 
of  their  thought  and  attention.  If  the  case  worker  is  to  get 
what  is  involved  in  a  particular  occupation  he  must  have  a  gen- 
eral comprehension  of  what  can  be  involved  in  the  occupation. 
He  not  only  ought  to  have  some  real  grasp  of  industrial  questions, 
but  he  should  appreciate  the  importance  of  industrial  questions. 

13 


Miss  Richmond,  in  her  book  on  Social  Diagnosis,  indicates  two 
kinds  of  equipment  needed  by  the  social  case  worker  for  his 
daily  task.  "To  be  a  good  case  worker,"  she  says,  "he  must 
have  a  generous  conception,  and  one  filled  with  concrete  details, 
of  the  possibilities  of  social  service,  and  this  conception  must  be 
a  growing  one.  It  must  grow  with  his  growing  experience  and 
also  with  each  year's  freight  of  social  discovery." 

APPRECIATION  OF  RELATION  BETWEEN  WAGES  AND  HEALTH 
If  I  interpret  this  correctly,  when  applied  to  the  industrial 
field,  it  means  that  the  case  worker  should  not  only  be  acquainted 
with  the  results  of  research  and  discovery  in  the  industrial  field, 
but  that  the  way  in  which  industrial  issues  are  insinuated  into 
most  of  our  social  relations  should  be  recognized  by  him.  It  is 
part  of  his  working  equipment,  for  example,  to  appreciate,  as 
Surgeon  General  W.  C.  Gorgas  pointed  out  at  the  Fifteenth 
Annual  Conference  of  Health  Officers  of  New  York  State,  that 
wages  and  health  are  directly  related.  To  use  General  Gorgas' 
words : 

"It  is  the  health  officer's  duty  to  urge  forward  these  measures  in  his  com- 
munity which  will  control  individual  diseases;  but  my  long  experience  has 
taught  me  that  it  is  still  more  his  duty  to  take  that  broader  view  of  life  which 
goes  to  the  root  of  bad  hygiene,  and  do  what  he  can  to  elevate  the  general 
social  conditions  of  his  community.  This,  my  experience  has  taught  me,  can 
best  be  accomplished  by  increasing  wages.  [The  Italics  are  mine.]  Such  mea- 
sures tend  at  the  same  time  to  alleviate  the  poverty,  misery  and  suffering  which 
are  occurring  among  the  poorest  classes  everywhere  in  modern  communities." 

Thus,  also,  would  General  Gorgas  have  the  health  officer,  who 
in  much  of  his  work  is  a  case  worker,  see  that  at  least  part  of  his 
responsibilities  lie  in  the  industrial  field. 

HEALTH  AND  THE  HOURS  OF  LABOR 

Similarly,  the  case  worker  should  understand  something  of 
what  industrial  physiology  is  discovering  as  to  the  hours  a  man 
or  woman  may  properly  work  and  how  the  human  factor  can 
and  cannot  be  used  in  industrial  processes.  Dr.  Frederic  S.  Lee, 
consulting  physiologist  of  the  United  States  Public  Health  Ser- 
vice and  professor  of  physiology  in  Columbia  University,  for 
example,  in  a  review  of  recent  work  as  to  the  bearing  of  physio- 

14 


logical  science  upon  industrial  efficiency,  sums  up  his  opinions  as 
follows : 

"  Industrial  physiology  tells  us,  in  the  interest  of  a  large  output,  not  only 
to  keep  the  hours  of  labor  down  to  what  experience  has  shown  to  be  a  reason- 
able limit,  but  to  choose  this  limit  in  accordance  with  the  fatiguing  effects  of 
the  different  specific  occupations.  It  tells  us  to  introduce  recess  periods  into 
long  spells,  to  omit  Sunday  labor,  and  to  impose  overtime  on  already  fatigued 
workers  only  in  rare  emergencies  and  when  compensation  can  be  given  by  free 
hours  later.  It  tells  us  not  to  keep  the  same  workers  continually  on  the  night 
shift,  but  to  alternate  night  with  day  work.  It  tells  us  that  each  worker  and 
each  task  possesses  a  specific  standard  of  strength,  and  it  indicates  in  what 
task  each  worker  will  probably  prove  most  efficient.  It  tells  us  that  each 
worker  has  a  rhythm  that  is  best  adapted  to  his  own  neuromuscular  mechanism 
and  that  it  is  advantageous  to  place  in  a  squad  of  workers  doing  a  specific  task 
only  those  possessing  similar  rhythms,  eliminating  the  faster  and  the  slower 
individuals,  and  then  to  adjust  the  speed  of  operation  to  the  common  rate. 
Such  instances  as  these  few  reveal  the  scope  of  industrial  physiology  and  show 
how  it  is  indicating  some  of  the  ways  in  which  the  most  intricate  of  all  in- 
dustrial machines,  the  body  of  the  worker,  must  be  used  in  order  to  bring  out 
its  greatest  usefulness." 

INCOME,  MORALS,  AND  ETHICS 

Again,  the  case  worker's  equipment  should  include  a  working 
appreciation  of  the  relation  of  income  to  ethics  and  morals. 
Those  who  heard  Professor  James  H.  Tufts,  head  of  the  Depart- 
ment of  Philosophy  at  the  University  of  Chicago,  deliver  his 
address  on  The  Ethics  of  the  Family  at  the  Baltimore  Confer- 
ence will  recall  how  his  remarks  on  income  and  ethics,  from  the 
point  of  view  of  the  student  of  philosophy,  coincided  with  earlier 
conclusions  of  Professor  Simon  N.  Patten,  arrived  at  from  the 
point  of  view  of  the  sociologist  and  political  scientist.  Among 
other  things,  Professor  Tufts  said: 

"The  great  point  on  which  more  positive  ethics  for  the  working-class 
family  should  center,  I  repeat,  is  a  higher  standard  of  living,  a  higher  wage 
and  a  better  house,  better  opportunities  for  play,  and  longer  and  better  educa- 
tion for  children.  .  .  .  The  lack  of  privacy,  decency,  comfort,  and  re- 
sources in  which  great  multitudes  of  our  city  children  are  now  brought  up  is  a 
far  stronger  menace  to  family  life  than  any  ethical — or  unethical — theory  or 
any  frequency  of  divorce,  and  when  we  have  remedied  some  of  these  condi- 
tions, we  can  speak  more  confidently  as  to  the  next  thing." 

At  another,  earlier  place  in  the  same  address,  he  said,  "If, 
therefore,  one  is  to  help  the  morals  of  the  working-class  family, 
the  raising  of  the  standard  of  living  is  evidently  the  most  hope- 

15 


ful  line  of  attack,  whether  this  takes  the  individual  form  of  better 
training  and  education  of  both  boys  and  girls,  or  the  form  of 
public  control  of  housing  and  sanitation,  or  public  insurance  for 
unemployment,  accident,  and  illness,  and  ultimately  of  a  juster 
distribution  of  gains." 

These  conclusions  suggest  that  reached  by  Mr.  John  Nolan, 
of  the  National  Housing  Association,  and  stated  at  the  Provi- 
dence session  of  that  organization.  He  emphatically  declared 
that  the  housing  problem  of  most  of  our  communities  would 
never  be  solved  until  the  wage  question  of  our  communities 
comes  nearer  being  settled.  I  do  not  understand  this  to  mean 
that  housing  conditions  depend  wholly  upon  wages;  improve- 
ment in  the  wage  scale  must  be  accompanied  by  other  reforms 
and  improvements  also.  But  it  does  mean  that  wages  are  a  very 
important  and  vital  factor  in  the  housing  question;  and  that 
its  ultimate  solution  will  not  be  reached  until  the  wage  situation 
is  much  improved,  to  say  the  least. 

THE  INDUSTRIAL  REFORMER'S  HELP  NEEDED 
And  so  on;  the  testimony  of  seasoned  students  and  observers 
could  be  quoted  at  length.  In  so  doing,  we  should  very  often 
be  merely  expressing  in  new  phrases  conclusions  which  many 
social  workers  have  put  into  the  public  print  long  ago.  And 
yet,  in  spite  of  it  all,  it  is  my  conviction  (I  may  be  wrong,  and 
I  hope  I  am)  that  most  of  us  who  have  known  these  things  have 
not  acted  sufficiently  on  the  knowledge,  have  not  made  it  func- 
tion in  our  own  communities.  Possibly  this  is  because  we  have 
not  seen  the  opportunity  for  its  functioning;  because  the  tech- 
nique for  putting  these  theories  and  broad  principles  into  con- 
crete acts  has  not  been  sufficiently  worked  out.  Indeed  it  has 
been  worked  out  hardly  at  all.  And  here,  clearly,  the  responsi- 
bility lies  upon  the  industrial  reformer  to  put  his  material  in  such 
shape  as  the  case  worker  can  use.  His  help  along  industrial  lines 
should  be  similar  to  that  of  Dr.  Cabot  in  medicine;  he  should 
put  industrial  knowledge  and  principles  in  a  form  which  the  social 
case  worker  can  use.  Household  economists  are  helping  the  social 
worker  in  like  ways  in  their  field.  But  until  the  industrial  re- 
former acts,  I  think  the  case  worker  can  hardly  excuse  himself 
from  doing  all  in  his  power  to  see  that  the  diagnosis  of  industrial 
cases  which  come  before  his  committee  have  brought  to  bear 

16 


upon  them  the  largest  possible  grasp  of  sound  industrial  knowl- 
edge and  principles. 

Fortunately  there  is  much  that  the  case  worker  can  do  for 
himself  toward  this  kind  of  equipment — important,  among  other 
things,  being  the  familiarizing  of  himself,  as  he  has  opportunity, 
with  the  industries  of  his  own  city.  In  order  to  deal  with  in- 
dustrial cases  most  intelligently,  he  should  have  as  large  a  back- 
ground as  possible  of  information  regarding  hours  of  work,  wages, 
the  physical  surroundings  of  workers,  and  so  on  in  the  localities 
where  the  families  brought  to  his  attention  live  and  work. 

FAITHFULNESS  TO  INDUSTRIAL  FACTS 

Finally,  in  order  to  arrive  at  the  wisest  decisions  in  planning 
for  industrially  disabled  families,  and  to  lay  down  principles  of 
procedure  in  treating  cases,  which  will  be  the  seed  of  future  in- 
dustrial improvement,  case  workers  need  to  be  faithful  to  the 
industrial  facts  as  they  find  them,  no  matter  who  or  what  the 
interests  that  are  hit.  If  the  truth  is  to  be  acted  upon,  if  case 
work  is  to  have  its  basis  on  something  solid,  then  the  facts  must 
be  looked  at  impersonally  and  interpreted  disinterestedly.  This, 
I  believe,  however,  is  a  suggestion  which  social  workers  need  less 
than  any  other  single  group.  The  vast  majority  of  social  case 
work  agencies  have  shown  great  courage  in  the  past,  and  are 
showing  more  and  more  of  it  as  time  goes  on. 

These,  then,  are  some  of  the  ways  in  which  case  workers  can 
apparently  make  their  experience  and  knowledge  count  toward 
industrial  improvement  through  contact  with  their  case  com- 
mittees or  case  conferences.  Their  endeavors  need  not  stop 
there,  however.  Several  other  avenues  for  teaching,  still  through 
the  case  method,  which  in  the  limited  time  available  can  be  only 
touched  upon,  are  open  to  them. 

OPPORTUNITY  THROUGH  SOCIAL-STUDY  CLASSES 
The  first  is  the  opportunity  afforded  through  industrial  and 
social-study  classes.  I  know  of  at  least  one  such  class  made  up 
of  enthusiastic  young  college  women  who  induced  the  secretary 
of  their  associated  charities  to  lead  them  in  studying  current 
social  questions.  It  is  hard  to  conceive  of  any  better  material 
for  such  an  educational  adventure  than  the  active  cases  that 
come  to  the  charitable  agencies  every  day.  Here  was  a  chance, 

17 


which  was  grasped,  to  set  up  an  additional  center  in  which  live 
labor  issues  could  be  discussed  and  through  which  the  principles 
of  industrial  justice  could  be  made  to  radiate  to  the  families 
and  friends  of  the  young  women  of  the  class.  If  such  a  class 
is  profitable  in  one  city,  it  should  be  in  others. 

IN  REPORTING  TO  CONTRIBUTORS 

A  second  opportunity  is  to  be  had  through  the  regular  prac- 
tice which  some  case  workers  pursue  of  reporting  to  contributors 
regarding  families  in  which  the  contributors  are  interested. 
There  is  more  and  more  tendency,  as  I  understand  it,  when 
writing  such  reports  (or  better,  when  making  them  in  person) 
to  be  specific — not  to  say  merely  that  Mr.  Smith,  or  Mr.  Brown 
and  family  are  "doing  nicely";  but  to  indicate  specifically  the 
treatment  being  given  and  the  progress  made.  What  a  capital 
chance  to  go  into  fundamentals  in  presenting  industrial  cases 
and  interpreting  them  in  ways  that  will  educate! 

IN  REPORTING  TO  THOSE  REFERRING  FAMILIES  AND  GENERAL 

REPORTING 

A  third  avenue  is  much  like  the  second.  It  is  to  be  found 
in  the  practice  of  many  societies  of  reporting  on  the  progress  of 
case  treatment  to  the  person  who  referred  a  certain  family-  to 
the  agency. 

A  fourth  chance  for  such  educational  work  is  through  the 
general  reporting  of  the  society  or  agency.  Most  agencies  issue 
annual  reports  which  go  not  only  to  contributors  but  to  many 
other  interested  persons  and  to  the  press.  Each  year  some  one 
phase  of  the  society's  work,  the  industrial  side  among  others, 
could  be  interpreted  through  the  case  method  in  ways  that  would 
set  people  thinking  beyond  the  actual  cases  in  hand. 

IN  NEWSPAPER  AND  PLATFORM  INTERPRETATION  OF  CONSTRUC- 
TIVE WORK 

Fifth,  the  case  worker  may  make  use  of  the  newspapers  all 
the  year  round.  Most  social  agencies  are  feeling  an  increasing 
need  of  interpreting  their  constructive  work  to  the  public.  Too 
often  they  are  thought  of  popularly  as  strictly  relief-giving  agen- 
cies. I  dare  say  that  few  endeavors  could  do  more  to  correct  this 
misconception  than  occasional  interpretations  of  the  agency's 

18 


work  by  bringing  before  the  public  cases  in  which  the  treatment 
given  was  dictated  by  broad  industrial  considerations. 

A  sixth  way  of  teaching  is  that  afforded  in  the  occasional 
requests  coming  to  case  workers  to  make  public  addresses. 
Wherever  and  whenever  it  appears  at  all  timely,  industrial  les- 
sons drawn  out  of  concrete  daily  experiences  might  be  set  forth 
to  advantage. 

IN  SECURING  COOPERATION  IN  TREATMENT 
A  seventh  method  of  reform  may  be  found  in  the  occasional 
calls  upon  employers  whose  cooperation  is  needed  in  carrying 
out  the  plan  of  treatment  decided  upon.  Not  all  employers, 
not  all  even  of  those  responsible  for  bad  industrial  conditions, 
are  cruel  or  selfish ;  many  are  merely  ignorant  and  are  willing  to 
learn.  The  case  worker  is  in  a  particularly  favorable  position 
to  approach  the  employer  and  to  teach  him,  since  he  comes  on 
an  unselfish  errand,  speaks  on  behalf  of  one  in  whom  the  employer 
presumably  is  interested,  and  has  a  definite  plan  into  which  the 
cooperation  of  the  employer  will  fit.  Through  the  presentation 
of  well  analyzed  cases,  it  is  often  possible  to  show  employers 
that  the  wages  of  women,  for  example,  are  a  matter  of  public 
concern. 

AMONG  WORKERS  OF  OTHER  AGENCIES  AND  IN  THE  FAMILIES 

THEMSELVES 

An  eighth  avenue  may  sometimes  be  found  in  other  case  work 
agencies  whose  representatives  from  time  to  time  sit  upon  our 
particular  case  committee.  When  this  is  taken  advantage  of, 
a  new  center  of  educational  influence  may  often  be  established. 

And,  finally,  a  ninth  avenue  is  that  found  in  the  families  re- 
stored to  normal  living  themselves.  This  is  well  illustrated  in 
the  success  of  many  societies  in  securing  the  cooperation  of 
parents  in  observing  child-labor  laws,  a  kind  of  industrial  reform 
which  is  especially  likely  to  fail  unless  parents  believe  in  it.  It 
means  a  great  deal,  moreover,  in  laying  the  foundations  for  labor 
advance,  to  show  workers  in  concrete  ways  that  lead  poisoning 
and  other  occupational  diseases,  for  example,  are  not  inevitable 
visitations  upon  people  grown  accustomed  to  misfortune;  that 
they  are  preventable,  that  there  are  precautions  which  workers 
can  take,  and  that  right-thinking  citizens  will  rally  behind  a 

19 


demand  for  the  preventive  measures  which  the  employer  should 
install.  These  restored  families  should  form  another  group  who 
can  help  the  work  along. 

This,  doubtless,  seems  like  a  long  catalogue.  I  think  it  will  be 
realized,  however,  that  the  suggestions  made  add  no  new  items 
to  the  usual  routine  of  case  work.  They  merely  have  to  do  with 
ways  in  which  that  routine  can  be  made  to  contribute  to  in- 
dustrial reform.  And,  incidentally,  those  workers  interested  in 
getting  down  to  fundamentals,  a  purpose  which  I  have  heard 
voiced  so  often  and  with  which  I  heartily  sympathize,  wil  find 
enough  in  such  a  routine,  if  used  to  the  full,  to  claim  a  great  deal 
of  their  energy  and  at  times  to  call  into  play  about  all  the  moral 
courage  they  can  summon. 

r 

EDUCATIONAL  USE  OF  MASSED  CASES 

As  stated  at  the  beginning,  two  broad  forms  of  educational 
work  for  industrial  reform  are  open  to  the  case  worker.  In  addi- 
tion to  teaching  and  cooperative  learning  through  the  use  of 
individual  cases,  he  can  in  a  second  broad  way  contribute  some- 
thing, perhaps  much,  toward  the  more  wholesale  study  and  spread 
of  facts.  In  other  words,  the  case  worker  can  make  his  data 
of  use  in  getting  at  causes  and  in  broad-scale  attempts  to  remove 
them, 

DISCOVERING  AND  FOLLOWING  UP  CLUES 
He  can  do  this,  first,  as  case  after  case  comes  to  his  attention, 
by  being  on  the  lookout  for  clues  as  to  causes.  When  the  same 
form  of  disability  or  distress  recurs  more  or  less  frequently  in  a 
particular  locality,  it  is  time  for  him  to  begin  to  suspect  some- 
thing wrong  with  community  conditions  there,  and  to  stimulate 
public  interest  that  might  lead  to  their  being  dealt  with  on  a 
community  basis.  That  is  to  say,  the  case  work  agencies,  because 
of  their  relation  to  neglected  families,  are  in  a  position  to  discover 
new  needs  and  to  lead  toward  the  initiation  of  movements  looking 
toward  the  improvement  of  conditions;  and  they  should  consider 
public  service  of  this  kind  a  part  of  their  regular  activities.  The 
practicability  of  such  activities  is  shown  by  the  fact  that  many 
agencies  are  already  including,  and  long  since  have  included 
them,  in  their  work  programs,  the  anti-tuberculosis  movement 
in  New  York,  for  example,  and  the  movement  for  tenement 

20 


house  reform  both  having  had  their  origin  in  and  a  great  deal  of 
support  from  one  of  the  local  case  work  agencies. 

MAKING  CASE  DATA  ACCESSIBLE  TO  INQUIRERS 

A  second  way  in  which  case  workers  can  make  their  informa- 
tion useful  in  accumulated  form  is  through  the  intelligent  in- 
dexing of  case  records  and  the  material  in  them ;  and  the  placing 
of  this  material  at  the  disposal  of  all  who  can  use  it  intelligently 
and  fairly.  A  number  of  charity  organization  societies  do  this 
now.  A  certain  agency,  for  example,  had  for  a  number  of  years 
a  long  list  of  topics  upon  which  it  was  likely  that  case  material 
would  throw  light;  and  the  workers  in  the  agency  indexed  their 
data  once  a  month.  An  instance  came  to  my  notice  where  this 
kind  of  work  proved  to  be  of  great  use.  The  agency  was  called 
upon  by  a  government  investigator  who  was  commissioned  to 
make  a  study  of  the  alleged  hardships  caused  by  a  certain  state 
child  labor  law.  He  called  in  the  morning,  and,  through  the  use 
of  the  indexes,  at  three  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  was  given  an 
instalment  of  the  file  material  on  the  subject,  which,  with  subse- 
quent instalments,  kept  him  busy  for  some  weeks.  Incidentally, 
he  found  but  a  single  case  which  he  could  actually  describe  as  one 
of  hardship  due  to  the  law  and  not  met  in  some  satisfactory  way. 

The  danger  in  such  indexing  is  that  one  may  fall  back  upon 
standard  classifications.  The  index  lists  should  be  flexible,  and 
revised  from  time  to  time,  as  subjects  of  interest  and  the  emphasis 
on  particular  subjects  are  constantly  changing.  For  example, 
in  1914,  if  not  listed  before,  unemployment  and  the  effect  of 
financial  depressions  upon  family  welfare  might  have  been  added 
to  the  indexed  subjects;  while  in  1917,  migration  of  negro  fami- 
lies, and  in  1918,  dilution  of  labor  and  emergency  housing  should 
have  found  a  place  in  the  lists.  The  clues  already  mentioned 
will  suggest  topics  also. 

One  important  idea  in  the  indexing  would  be  to  anticipate 
future  needs  rather  more  than  to  cover  issues  already  past  and 
no  longer  timely. 

Along  this  same  line  the  current  working-data  on  family  bud- 
gets of  one  case  work  agency  were  recently  put  to  good  use.  In 
the  Government's  inquiry  into  the  meat-packing  industry  in 
Chicago  a  few  months  ago,  both  sides  in  the  controversy  inde- 
pendently requested  the  United  Charities  of  that  city  to  present 

21 


a  statement  of  the  minimum  family  budget  used  by  them  in 
connection  with  families  receiving  allowances.  I  am  told  that 
the  figures  submitted  by  the  United  Charities  were  almost 
identical  with  those  presented  by  the  unions;  that  the  only 
differences  were  in  particular  items,  not  in  the  totals.  The  two 
sets  of  data  appeared  to  check  each  other.  By  having  its  budget 
data  kept  accurately  up  to  date  in  a  time  of  rapidly  changing 
living  costs,  this  case  work  agency  rendered  valuable  service 
not  alone  to  the  individual  families  under  its  care  but  in  the  de- 
termination of  a  labor  policy  which  affected  the  welfare  of  thou- 
sands of  families. 

STUDIES  OF  THEIR  DATA  BY  CASE  WORK  AGENCIES 
Third,  and  a  final  "finally,"  case  workers'  records  can  and 
should  not  only  be  indexed  for  ready  reference  and  study  by  the 
outside  inquirer,  but  they  should  be  studied  by  the  society  or 
agency  itself  or  some  cooperating  agency,  and  made  to  yield 
timely  information  on  needed  industrial  reforms.  Here  again  the 
suggestion  has  the  backing  of  at  least  one  successful  instance  of 
such  use.  A  study  was  recently  made  of  the  industrial  factors 
involved  in  a  large  number  of  families  applying  for  relief  to  one 
of  the  large  charitable  societies  and  to  one  of  the  large  hospital 
dispensaries  in  New  York  City.  The  resulting  data  were  used 
at  a  public  hearing  in  Albany  upon  the  recently  proposed  health 
insurance  law. 

Similarly,  in  a  number  of  instances  the  information  gathered 
by  workers  in  charity  organization  societies  has  disclosed  the 
need  of  labor  reforms  which  would  affect  large  groups  of  working 
people  and  the  societies  have  initiated  movements  to  meet  these 
needs.  For  example,  in  some  cities  they  have  been  successful 
in  influencing  employers,  housewives,  and  others,  to  increase  the 
pay  of  women  doing  work  by  the  day — washing  and  ironing, 
for  instance,  and  office  cleaning.  An  industrial  service  of  this 
kind  is  a  particularly  useful  one  since  it  touches  the  interests 
of  workers  who  have  little  or  no  opportunity  for  united  action. 
Case  workers  come  in  contact  with  large  numbers  of  people  en- 
gaged in  the  unorganized  trades,  and  it  is  highly  desirable  that 
the  feeling  of  responsibility  to  render  this  type  of  service,  a 
feeling  very  strong  among  some  of  the  societies,  should  be  ex- 
tended. 

22 


Thus  along  two  broad  lines  of  activity,  either  in  the  use  of 
individual  cases  or  in  the  facilitating  of  studies  designed  to  guide 
in  movements  for  community  improvement  and  to  give  a  basis 
of  tested  fact  for  public  policies,  the  opportunities  open  to  the 
case  worker  to  render  aid  are  by  no  means  few. 


23 


14  DAY  USE 

RETURN  TO  DESK  FROM  WHICH  BORROWED 

LOAN  DEPT. 

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on  the  date  to  which  renewed. 
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